Rhinofy
"I Wanna Go To The Sun"
Peter Frampton
I was such a fan that I bought the album this came from upon release…
And was disappointed.
Frampton was going in the wrong direction. To the point where I didn’t purchased the follow-up, "Frampton", which was a complete return to form, until after the legendary live album.
And there’s a take of "I Wanna Go To The Sun" on the live album, I’m including it, but many people have never heard the original, and you should, for the piano part.
It’s so soulful!
Anybody can play the notes, but can you make the instrument sing, do you have the music in you, can you transmit this sound to the listener?
For the record, that piano is played by Nicky Hopkins, keyboardist extraordinaire, one of the few session men known by everybody back in the day, but forgotten in the modern era.
He should not be.
Furthermore, "I Wanna Go To The Sun" includes the priceless, unforgettable line:
Music is my food in life, don’t take it away!
"Gasoline Alley"
Rod Stewart
Imagine dropping the needle on this for the very first time…
I was living in the wilds of Vermont, there was no radio other than the execrable college station, I read about Rod Stewart in "Rolling Stone" and ordered this album. This is the opening cut. Maybe you can picture my jaw dropping when I heard Rod’s voice!
I couldn’t believe it. This was the guy they were trumpeting?
Forget the modern peacock singing the songs from before you were born, "Gasoline Alley" is the essence, both the album and the song. This became my favorite record, I ordered a poster, put it on my dorm room wall and was constantly asked, WHO’S THAT?
In a matter of months, everybody knew.
He was just that good.
And his own compositions are best.
Be sure to listen to the very end, when Rod amps it up a bit, when the emotion is dripping from the track…
And if I’m called away and it’s my turn to go
Should the blood run cold in my veins
Just one favor I’ll be asking of you
Don’t bury me here, it’s too cold
Take me back, carry me back
Down to gasoline alley where I started from
Take me back, won’t you carry me home
Down to gasoline alley where I started from
We’ve all got roots. We may cover them up, but inside we know. They can’t be denied. And on some level, that’s where we’re most comfortable. Where do you want to be buried?
And hang in there for the outro… Ronnie Wood was never better than he was with Rod.
"The Wall Street Shuffle"
10cc
This is not even my favorite track on "Sheet Music", that’s "Somewhere In Hollywood", but this was the cut that got airplay, this is the cut that record nerds know.
Think about this. A heavy riff, incisive, interesting lyrics and a beautiful vocal and great bridge.
This was just too smart for dumb America.
But it’s just as good today.
Oh, Howard Hughes
Did your money make you better?
That’s the difference between the seventies and today. Forty years ago, we would have emphatically said NO! Today, everybody says YES! Today money trumps everything, you cannot criticize that which is extremely profitable, those who are rich. And you wonder why our culture is so empty…
"Johnny’s Garden"
Stephen Stills/Manassas
Somehow the tide turned on Stephen Stills, his second solo album was not as good as the first, public opinion began to sour. Then, as if to prove he was the most talented guy in L.A., he formed this big band and was still overlooked.
But the initial double Manassas album was SPECTACULAR!
It’s one of those few two album sets without filler. And if you want to be impressed, listen to the fourth side, with the extended workouts, that’s massive playing.
But this is my favorite cut of the set.
Funny to think this almost folk music dominated way back when. Not only Stills and his compatriots Crosby and Nash, but Joni Mitchell and so many more.
Listening makes you want to run out and buy this specific guitar, what a sound!
But that’s not all. There’s the playing, but there’s also the singing and the changes. And the lyrics.
There’s a place
I can get to
Where I’m safe
From the city blues
And it’s green
And it’s quiet
Only trouble was
I had to buy it
Ah, there’s a little seventies insight for you. Being a rock star just gave you better vision. The masses were all in it together, but those who climbed above saw that it was a dirty, dog eat dog world. That you had to pay for your solace.
Imagine hearing this on vinyl, on a seventies stereo. HEAVEN!
"Jesus Just Left Chicago"
ZZ Top
Billy Gibbons is one of the few musicians whose rep has grown as the years have passed by.
Guitarslingers are supposed to come from the U.K. Or maybe New York or L.A. Even Chicago.
But not down under, from the heat of the independent state of Texas.
This band locks into a groove and won’t let it go. It’s stronger than heroin, you get hooked and can’t stop listening. Sure, it’s plodding, it sounds like nothing special, we’re trained to look for Yngwie Malmsteen, someone who can dazzle us. But true musicians know it’s all about the pocket.
And that’s true of so much in life. It’s not about sex with the girl in the magazine, but the one you do it with every night, your regular girl. You know each other’s preferences, you’re comfortable, you’re relaxed. It’s not about renting a Ferrari, but driving your own iron, right after a tune-up, when you’re one with the car. It’s the crack of the bat, it’s an In-N-Out burger, it’s a shot of Jack Daniel’s…it’s not about exotica, but getting it just right.
That’s what ZZ Top specialized in, still does.
So crank this up. If you get distortion, you need new speakers. With giant cones and enough watts to pump this ooze throughout your house. Squeezing out all that bugs you, that is not right.
And, for the record, Jesus is concert promoter extraordinaire Don Fox. He left Chicago for New Orleans, he was an integral part of ZZ Top’s success.
"The Waiting"
Linda Ronstadt
Yes, yes, the Tom Petty song. But don’t wince, don’t skip over it, it’s the same groove but slowed down and a bit more quiet, more is revealed. Petty’s take is a tear. Linda’s rendition is a short story.
And if Linda’s vocal doesn’t make you want to screw her, you’re gay. She radiates such confidence, such attitude, you can understand why everybody needed to get closer. Good-looking women are a dime a dozen. But add in sassiness and talent and the result is IRRESISTIBLE!
Line up any young singer alive. From Grace Potter to Miranda Lambert to all those with the powerful pipes on TV. I guarantee you they’d all be afraid to take the stage after Linda Ronstadt, she’d blow them all away.
Aretha Franklin has got her endless victory lap, why can’t Linda Ronstadt have hers? She was just as big a star and neither of them wrote their own material. Maybe Aretha’s got to invite Linda up on stage.
Then there’s the political thing. Is that what you want for a spouse, a Stepford Wife? An airhead who looks good but has nothing to say? We want our companions to be positively three-dimensional.
As for the weight gain… How do you look? Will you only be interested if she slims down and gets a facelift? Is that what you’re gonna do? Wow, your life must be really empty. Never having dessert, living a life of deprivation, in search of a youth that passed you by.
Music is something you listen to, not something you see. Just close your eyes and revel in the sound of this track. I can play it for hours straight.
And, just for the record, the waiting IS the hardest part.
